Broncos rookie DE Quanterus Smith part of a trend for John Fox

Coming Sunday we’ll have a story on Broncos’ rookie defensive end Quanterus Smith.

And Smith was the Broncos’ fifth-round pick last weekend, a pass-rushing prospect from Western Kentucky who could not work out at the scouting combine or attend any of the postseason all-star games because of a knee injury he suffered late in the 2012 season.

At the time he tore his left ACL he had 12.5 sacks, with three of those sacks having come against Alabama. And the Crimson Tide surrendered at least three sacks to just one other opponent — Georgia — for the remainder of the season.

After all, the Crimson Tide’s offensive line included three players selected in last week’s NFL draft with two of the linemen — Chance Warmack and D.J. Fluker — having been selected among the top 11 picks. Again, three sacks, by one player, against Alabama was worth looking up. So, I did.

Granted my recall ain’t always what it used to be, but in all the drafts I have reviewed, my recollection was that Jevon Kearse had three sacks against Alabama in ’98. It was one of the games I had charted before the ’99 draft and when I pulled the ’98 binder off the shelf to see if memory matched fact — and it doesn’t always especially on the old put out the recycling every other week deal — it did.

So, starting there I went through Alabama’s seasons and found three more players with at least sacks against ‘Bama before Smith had put himself on the list. But when I then checked what happened to those players in the NFL draft, John Fox’s name kept coming up.

So much so, that Fox’s team has now selected three of the last four players to have at least three sacks in a game against Alabama, including Smith.

Fox’s Carolina Panthers selected Auburn’s Stanley McClover — three sacks against ‘Bama in 2005 — in the seventh round of the 2006 draft. Fox’s Panthers then selected Mississippi’s Greg Hardy — three sacks against ‘Bama in 2007, as a sophomore — in the sixth round of the 2010 draft.

Then the Broncos selected Smith in the fifth round this past Saturday.

And one more: Two of the last four players to have three sacks in a game against Alabama were selected in the 2010 draft, Hardy by Fox and the Panthers to go with Utah’s Stevenson Sylvester, selected in the fifth round that year by the Steelers.

1. Read the headline,
2. then read the first part of the article, presumably thereby learning what the article is about,
3. Finish reading the article, and
4. Care enough to comment.

BroncoMan24

WTF are you talking about? Of course I read the article. I like the pick, but the article is about worthless research. I mean come on… So just because he had 3 sacks against Bama he is being compared to other players that had 3 sacks against Bama? Not sure why it matters. Different rosters and different players so how can you really compare. IMO this article was a waste of a read and I have just as much right as you do to post here so STFU.

Nick (ncm42)

Hmmm, again, a very reasonable response. I’m not quite sure when I said you don’t have a right to post here, so maybe you need to brush up on the ol’ comprehension skills too. But seeing the hypocrisy in your rant being followed by telling me to “STFU”, I’m pretty sure it’s not worth trying to explain it to you. Thanks for being so awesome, though!

jeff Hunter

C’mon Nick…yer being a D ick…bring some football convo next time and save the criticism for your wife…

Skink

Cool research. Speaks to what Fox values.

George McDowell

So performing well against overrated prospects gets you noticed by John Fox. Still, good research, good effort. Very non-Klis-like.

BroncoDoug

I’m sorry, which overrated prospects are those? You mean the ‘Bama offensive line that may go down as one of the best in modern college history? The one with 3 of its 5 players being selected to play on Sundays? (The other two: Anthony Steen and Cyrus Kouandjio are locks to be picked in next year’s draft. Kouandjio likely being a top 10 pick) Those guys?

Try again, George.

COsprtsfan

wish i had the last two minutes of my life back

http://www.facebook.com/mwaara Mike Waara

Personally I love this pick. Low risk vs. high reward. I really like what Elway-Fox bring to the table in terms of building a roster. Hopefully that shows up on the field for years to come!

AnyBronc

So how did those 3 sack players do in subsequent years? All Pros or 3 and out?

http://www.facebook.com/mike.traveler.39 Mike Traveler

Exactly. This “article” was a missed opportunity for sure. Telling me
about what then happened in these guys careers would at least say
something about whether this trend has any value. Seriously Legwood…
You owe me 2 minutes of my life back.

Mike Klis has been with The Denver Post since 1998, after working 13 years with the Colorado Springs Gazette Telegraph. Major League Baseball was Klis' initial passion. He started covering the Colorado Rockies after Coors Field was approved for construction in August 1990.

Nicki Jhabvala is the Sports Digital News Editor for The Denver Post. Before arriving in Denver, she spent five years at Sports Illustrated working primarily as its online NBA editor, and she was most recently the overnight home page editor at the New York Times. She has reported regularly on the Broncos since joining the staff.

A published author and award-winning journalist, Benjamin Hochman is a sports columnist for The Denver Post. He previously worked on the staff of the New Orleans Times-Picayune, winners of two Pulitzer Prizes for their Hurricane Katrina coverage.